Of Dreams and Hopes
by SkyGem
Summary: One day, a thirteen-year-old Tsuna wakes up in a hospital to find that he's been in a coma for the past week, and that the last four years of his life were nothing but a dream; he's not the Vongola Decimo, and he...full summary inside. No pairings.
1. All A Dream

Summary: One day, a thirteen-year-old Tsuna wakes up in a hospital to find that he's been in a coma for the past week, and that the last four years of his life were nothing but a dream; he's not the Vongola Decimo, and he doesn't have a tutor named Reborn. After leaving the hospital, it's hard getting used to his lonely life again, especially now that he knows what it's like to have amazing friends that would do almost anything for him. Little does he know that far away, in a country called Italy, and even in his own small neighbourhood, seven other kids have also woken up from comas and are trying to piece their confused lives back together.

SkyGem: Hey all! I'm glad the summary interested you enough to make you want to read my fic! I hope you all enjoy!

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><p>Tsuna groaned and tried to re-position himself; his entire body was aching.<p>

Would it kill Reborn to let him rest a little? Really! They'd just defended the Vongola HQ against an enemy Famiglia bent on destroying them last week! One would think that merited a vacation, but no! His sadistic tutor just had to go and make his training regimen even harder!

"Tsu-kun?" asked a worried yet hopeful voice, and Tsuna's eyes flew open.

The next second, though, he wished he'd kept them closed, because he was almost blinded by the overhead lights. The brunet quickly covered his eyes as he tried to sit up, wondering at his location. The familiar sterile, white environment couldn't be mistaken as anything other than a hospital.

"Oh, Tsu-kun!" cried that same voice again, this time sounding beyond relieved, and as Tsuna felt himself enveloped in a gentle embrace, he realized with a shock that the voice belonged to his mother.

"Kaa-san? What happened?" he asked, trying to think back and remember what exactly his mother was doing in Italy...at least, he was supposed to be in Italy, training with his guardians and learning his duties for when he would officially become Decimo when he turned eighteen next year.

"You were hit by a truck," whimpered his mother, looking horrified. "You've been in a coma for the past week. Oh, you have no idea how worried I was, Tsu-kun! I thought I'd lost you!"

__'A truck?' __thought Tsuna, dumbfounded.

He hadn't been hit by a truck; if he'd let himself be hit by a truck, Reborn would have killed him for letting his guard down long before the paramedics got to him. And even if he **_had _**miraculously survived his tutor's wrath, he would be in the Vongola HQ's infirmary, not at a hospital...

As he thought all this through, Tsuna suddenly realized that something definitely wasn't right.

Staring at his mother with growing horror, he realized what it was.

She was the same height as him.

When she'd hugged him, she'd rested her chin on his shoulder.

That shouldn't be possible! Tsuna had been taller than his mother for a year now!

Looking down at himself, Tsuna realized that he wasn't only shorter, but scrawnier as well. All the muscles he'd built up in the last few years were gone; his arms were practically flesh on bone! What the hell was going on?

"Is there something wrong, Tsu-kun?" asked his mother worriedly, and Tsuna noticed that even she looked younger.

Taking a deep, calming breath, the brunet told himself to calm down; Reborn had taught him better than to panic in times of trouble. Could this be considered as trouble?

Shaking his head to get the irrelevant thoughts out, Tsuna ran through his situation in his mind: he had supposedly been in a coma for a week after getting hit by a truck; he had seemingly become younger, as had his mother; he was, for some reason, in Japan, he realized as he stared at his surroundings; and he had no idea where his guardians were.

Quickly deciding on the best course of action, Tsuna turned to look at his concerned mother, with a lost expression on his face.

"Okaa-san," he started, tying to make his voice sound dazed, "I…how did I get hit by a truck? Where was I at the time? Why don't I remember it?"

Her expression softening, Nana ran a hand down Tsuna's face, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

"The doctor did say that you might not remember what had happened," she told him. "Don't worry, sweetie. It's normal. I'm sure you'll have your memories back soon enough."

Tsuna nodded, continuing to play the part of the confused son, and leaned into her hand, taking comfort from his mother's presence.

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><p>Before long, Tsuna found himself sitting in a taxi and headed back to his home.<p>

It was an eerie feeling, seeing Namimori as it had been when he was younger.

The Namimori he knew wasn't much different from this one, but it was different enough to give him shivers.

As he watched the town fly past through the windows of the taxi, he tried to puzzle out the mystery of what was going on.

At first, he thought that maybe he'd somehow traveled through time, maybe a malfunctioning ten-year-bazooka, but that idea was quickly shot down as he realized that even if he had traveled through time, his body shouldn't have gotten younger.

So what was going on here?

There was only one explanation that would come to him, but he wouldn't even consider that thought; he ****couldn't ****consider it. There was no way that he'd dreamed the whole thing up! It couldn't be possible that all of the hardships and fun times he had experienced with his friends in the past four years were just a figment of his imagination!

...Could it?

"Tsu-kun?" came Nana's worried voice, and Tsuna snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at his mother, who had gotten out of the taxi and was waiting for him to do the same.

Looking around, Tsuna saw that they had already arrived at his childhood home.

Blushing a little at having spaced out, the boy quickly got out of the taxi and followed his mother inside, feeling a little odd.

The house seemed so much quieter than it should be. Why wasn't there pink smoke billowing out of one of the windows because Lambo had thrown a temper tantrum?

Why weren't I-Pin and Fuuta there to welcome them home?

Why hadn't Bianchi tried to feed him some of her poison cooking yet?

Tsuna felt worse as he realized that if it really had all been a dream, then the kids he'd come to think of as siblings didn't really exist.

Letting out a depressed little sigh, the boy hurried into the house and went up to his room, thinking that at least things would be easier if he knew what year this was, and how old he supposedly was.

When he saw the calendar on his wall in his bedroom, Tsuna felt his jaw drop. It was the year 20XX? He'd gone back four whole years?

No...wait...he hadn't gone back four whole years, he was four years younger than he'd thought he was in the dream.

That was it.

Yes, it had all been a dream, and even though he really wished it wasn't, Tsuna couldn't find anything to discredit the idea. What else could it have been?

In fact...yes, he was starting to remember!

He had a literature assignment due tomorrow for school, didn't he? Or rather, due last week, if what his mother had said about being in a coma for a week was true.

Tsuna let out another sigh, not at all happy about having supposedly gotten one of his memories back.

It just proved his theory that he had dreamed everything.

If not, how would he have been able to remember such an insignificant thing as an assignment he had had to do 'four years ago'?

Looking around at his messy room, the brunet had the uneasy feeling of being suffocated.

In his dream, the one known as Reborn had always taught him to keep his room neat, saying that it was unbefitting of a mafia boss to have messy quarters.

In this regard, whether everything had been a dream or not didn't matter; it didn't change the fact that Tsuna could no longer stand having a messy room, so he hurriedly got to work putting his things away in their places, half expecting Reborn to come in while he was working and ask him why the hell he'd let his room get so messy in the first place.

Of course, then he remembered that there _was _no Reborn, and he quickly shook his head and continued cleaning, trying not to think of the fictional people that had become so important to him in that dream, lest he start crying.

And that was how Tsuna passed the next week; keeping himself busy and trying not to think of his friends. He probably would have gone on like that as well, but once a week had passed, his mother had deemed him healthy enough to return to school.

Tsuna was terrified of going to school.

Because going to school meant seeing three people that had been so close to him in his dream, and having them treat him like a stranger.

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><p>SkyGem: That's it for now! Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne? Oh, and I've already gotten the second chapter of this written, so it'll be updated tomorrow! And I promise, it's a very angst filled chapter with a major cliffie! Haha, anyways, don't forget the review! Ciao!<p> 


	2. It Hurts

Kyoya watched silently as a disheveled-looking brunet, Sawada Tsunayoshi, dashed through the school gates the moment the school bell rang.

The boy whipped his head worriedly from side to side, as if expecting someone to attack him, and it didn't take Kyoya long to realize that the brunet was looking for him.

He felt a small stirring of irritation within him, but not enough for him to want to attack the boy.

His expression was so different, but there was just something, something in his eyes, that brought to the skylark's mind an image of an older man. It brought to mind an image of the man that he, Hibari Kyoya, had acknowledged; a man he respected and even, he hated to admit it, __cared __for.

But this boy wasn't him; not yet at least, and maybe he never would be.

Maybe he would never become the man that had changed Kyoya's life completely.

But his eyes…had his eyes always been like that?

Hadn't his eyes been innocent and carefree and idiotic?

When did he gain that maturity?

When had his eyes becoming so…so…knowing?

Maybe it had to do with surviving a life-threatening accident.

It was the same accident that Kyoya and two other herbivores, Yamamoto and Sasagawa, had survived through.

It never occurred to Kyoya that maybe the omnivore he was currently watching had had the same dreams as him while he had been in a comatose state.

It was impossible.

He refused to acknowledge the possibility.

Because then, what if it turned out he hadn't had them?

Where would Kyoya be then?

Shaking his head as the omnivore finally rushed off to class, Kyoya turned around, thinking he would let him off the hook, just this one time.

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><p>Takeshi perked up the moment he saw the door slide open, three minutes into class, to allow a certain familiar brunet to enter.<p>

He resisted the urge to call out a greeting to his friend as the teacher scolded, letting him off lightly because it was his first day back after a terrible accident.

Takeshi had to hold back a chuckle as Tsuna hurried to his seat, looking a little lost.

For a moment, Takeshi's eyes met Tsuna's, and he grinned his usual grin.

Tsuna, though, immediately broke eye contact and turned to look back at the board, not once turning Takeshi's way.

This hurt.

It hurt a lot.

It meant that Tsuna didn't remember a thing; he didn't remember what they had gone through together.

Or what Takeshi had thought they'd gone through.

Maybe it really was all a dream; a wonderful dream conjured up by his lonely mind.

Now many people would think it odd that one of the most popular boys in school felt lonely, but it wasn't quite so strange.

Wouldn't anyone feel lonely if they were surrounded by people who only wanted to hang around them because of their popularity, or their looks, or their talents?

Trying to ignore the loneliness gnawing at his mind, Takeshi turned his attention to the blackboard, trying to pay attention to what the teacher was teaching them.

This was going to be one long day.

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><p>Ryohei was frustrated.<p>

Sending yet another devastating punch at the punching bag that was his victim today, the white-haired boy tried to sort out all the confused thoughts in his head.

He had been training like this for a while now; ever since lunch had started.

There was a dull ache in his hands, but it wasn't enough to take his mind off of what was troubling him.

He was so used to just facing whatever came at him, not giving much thought to what-ifs, but lately, his mind was full of them.

What if it wasn't all a dream?

What if he could have his family again?

What if he were to approach Sawada Tsunayoshi?

What if he were to ask him about the Vongola?

What if he could be the sun guardian again?

…What if none of it was true?

Shaking his head to clear it of all these confusing thoughts, Ryohei punched the bag again even harder.

"Onii-san!" came a worried voice from behind him, and he turned to see his sister standing there, her expression looking worried.

Rushing up to him, she took his gloved hands in her own and looked up at him with searching eyes. "What's wrong, onii-san?"

"Nothing…" he replied, looking stubbornly away.

Kyoko let out a small sigh, then tried to gently tug his gloves off.

Ryohei winced, feeling a sharp pain run up his arm, but let her pull it off, and heard her small gasp of worry.

"Onii-san! Just look at your hands! You need to be more careful, or you could seriously injure yourself!"

"Hai…" said Ryohei dejectedly before smiling tiredly at his younger sister. "Sorry, Kyoko. I'll be careful now."

Nodding, she pushed her brother towards the changing rooms, saying, "Hurry up and get changed. I don't know what's been bothering you, but I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten anything yet. You need to take better care of your body!"

Cheering up a little at his sister's concern, Ryohei let out a small chuckle, saying, "Hai, I'll be going, then."

After he was done changing, though, and was leaving the changing rooms, Ryohei caught sight of a certain familiar someone rushing past him, not giving him a second glance, and he found himself brooding again.

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><p>Tsuna flopped down onto his bed after a long and exhausting first day back at school.<p>

He had expected it to be lonely, what with him being used to being around his seven rather rambunctious guardians, but he hadn't been prepared for just **_how_**lonely it would be.

He hadn't realized how much he'd miss Hayato and Lambo's arguments, or Kyoya and Mukuro at each other's necks.

And this morning, when he'd walked into the classroom, for just a second, he'd met Takeshi's eyes, and when the boy had flashed him a smile, he'd felt lonelier than ever.

It wasn't the same kind of smile he was used to, the kind of smile that was reserved only for him and the other Vongola guardians, but the kind of smile that the popular baseball ace showed to his fans, the polite smile of an acquaintance.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna put that memory out of his mind, but as soon as he did so, another memory took its place.

This memory had Tsuna jerking up to a sitting position, wondering why he hadn't thought of it before.

His sky flames!

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><p>SkyGem: As promised, there's the second chapter! I hope you guys liked it, ne? I'm not sure when the next chap will be out, but this will most likely be either a short story (about 5-10 chaps) or a long one (20-30); haven't decided yet, but probably the former. Anyways, do leave a review and tell me what you thought!<p> 


	3. Destroy

Tsuna took a moment to berate himself for not remembering his flames earlier.

If he was actually able to light them, then that would mean that it hadn't all been a dream, right?

If he was able to light them, then that would meant that he could get his friends back, that he could get his life back.

The fact that he didn't even have a ring didn't register as a problem in Tsuna's mind; the brunet had long been able to go into hyper dying will mode at will.

Closing his eyes, Tsuna thought of his friends, his guardians, and tried to imagine how they would be feeling if they were in the same situation as him.

It would be painful, he knew; they'd all grown so close over the years. Thinking that he had to get them all out of this situation, he fed his determination, trying to go into his hyper dying will mode.

And for one breath-taking second, Tsuna thought he felt the telltale signs of his shoulders relaxing, his mind becoming more organized, but then that second was gone, and the brunet opened his eyes to see that he was still the same, old, useless Dame-Tsuna.

Letting out a growl of frustration, he threw his pillow at the wall and decided to try again. And again. And again.

Almost half an hour had passed before Tsuna finally decided to give up, decided that it really had all been a dreaming, and that he was acting silly, trying to get a flame to sprout from his forehead.

Screaming in frustration, he collapsed onto his bed, face-first. He stayed there for several full minutes, his mind replaying a quote from the infant that had been his tutor.

__Stop trying to be such a hero, Dame-Tsuna.__

The words kept replaying over and over in his head, and Tsuna kept wondering what exactly it meant to him.

Finally, though, he settled on the thought that maybe he should stop trying to get his position as Vongola Decimo back.

Tsuna thought on this for a moment, then came to a very sensible decision.

Even if he couldn't get his "dream" life back, that didn't necessarily mean that he couldn't still have parts of it.

What was to stop him from, say, going over to a certain sushi store and seeing if one Yamamoto Takeshi wasn't willing to be friends with him in real life after all?

With this new thought in mind, Tsuna quickly jumped off his bed, threw on a pair of shoes, and headed out the door, knowing that at this time of day, his soon-to-be friend would be helping out in the store…at least, that's how it had been in the dream. What if it was different in real life?

Shaking his head to get these thoughts out, Tsuna just kept running, deciding to deal with that bridge if he came to it.

Now, the only thing in his mind was befriending his best friend.

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><p>Yamamoto Takeshi was helping his father out with their sushi store, as usual. But what was not usual was that the boy didn't seem to be enjoying his work.<p>

"Takeshi?" asked his father suddenly, startling his son a little. "Is there something wrong?"

Takeshi took in his father's worried gaze, and slapped a smile on his face, saying, "Not at all! Why would anything be wrong?"

When Tsuyoshi fixed him with a level stare that said he wasn't buying it, Takeshi let his smile dim a little.

"I'm fine, really dad," he insisted.

And just at that moment, they heard the bell over the door ring, and someone entered the restaurant.

Takeshi turned to greet the customer, relieved that he had been saved from answering his father's questions, but froze upon seeing who it was.

There stood one very familiar brunet, shifting from foot to foot and looking a little uncomfortable.

When he caught his eye, the other male smiled shyly and said, "Hello, Yamamoto-san. I didn't know that you worked here!"

Maybe he was just imagining it, but the way Tsuna said those words, they sounded almost…scripted.

Shaking his head to get this weird thought out, Yamamoto just smiled casually at the boy and said the lines that would be expected of him, "Oh, I don't just work here, my family owns the restaurant."

Tsuna's eyes widened a little, but even this reaction didn't seem natural. "That's pretty cool, Yamamoto-san! I hope you won't mind if I come here often, then!"

Takeshi just stared at the boy, trying to process his words; here was Tsuna, the man that Takeshi thought of almost as a brother, someone that the baseball player thought that he'd lost, and he was offering to be friends!

It wasn't quite as good as what they'd had before, but it was the next best thing, and he'd be darned if he gave this chance up!

Smiling widely, genuinely, he said, "I guess that means we're friends then, ne?"

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><p>Meanwhile, in a hospital in a far away country named Italy, a certain silveret woke up from a deadly coma.<p>

It took the boy all of ten minutes to realize what exactly was going on, and when he did, he felt a sense of betrayal and loss wash over him.

He knew that whatever he had witnessed in his dreams was far too real to be just a dream, so that left only one possibility; someone was trying to control him, they had given him these fake memories to fabricate a sense of compassion for that boy, but it wouldn't work.

The moment he was well enough to leave the hospital, Hayato Gokudera would fly to Japan, and he would destroy the one known as Tsunayoshi Sawada!

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><p>At the same time, in another place in Italy, a certain infant hitman looked up at his boss, his face carefully blank.<p>

"You've decided, then, Nono?" he asked.

The aforementioned man, Nono, nodded, saying, "We have no other choice."

"And his father is okay with it?"

"He was very against it at first, but we were able to convince him otherwise."

"Then I will be going to Japan soon?"

"That's right, Reborn, your job is to tutor Tsunayoshi Sawada to become the Vongola Decimo."

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><p>SkyGem: Well then, there's that chapter done and over with! I hope you guys enjoyed it, ne? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought!<p> 


	4. Vongola Decimo

Takeshi was content.

Or rather…that's what he kept telling himself.

For the first time since he'd woken up from the accident, about five days before Tsuna had come back to school, Takeshi was in the company of his best friend.

It didn't matter that he didn't remember anything, he kept telling himself.

The two had begun to hang out together every once in a while and had even once had a conversation with the boxing club captain, Sasagawa Ryohei, in which their senpai had invited them both to join his club.

That had been such a nostalgic conversation, reminding him of the many that they'd had in their dreams.

But this wasn't a dream.

And the relationship he had with Tsuna at the moment was only a shadow of what it was supposed to be, almost superficial.

The baseball player kept telling himself to be patient, that time was needed in making such strong bonds as they'd had, but did that mean that he'd have to wait another four years before he and Tsuna could be as they had been in the dream?

Takeshi didn't think he'd be able to bear that.

And so, needing to clear his mind, Takeshi had done what he always did when he needed to think; he played baseball.

And maybe fate decided it wanted to tease him a little bit, because he ended up in the same situation he'd been in the last time this had happened; he broke his arm.

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><p>"Tadaima!" called Tsuna as he stepped into his house, humming contently to himself as he took off his shoes and headed up to his room.<p>

Things were going well with Takeshi. Even though they were just barely more than strangers, that would change over time.

All he had to do was be patient.

And he was sure that it wouldn't be too hard to befriend Ryohei.

The older male had already invited him to the boxing club.

"Okaeri, Tsu-kun!" called his mother from the kitchen, where she seemed to be preparing tea and a tray of sweets. "There's someone here to see you! He's waiting for you up in your room!"

"Eh?" asked Tsuna, confusion clear on his face. "Someone here to see me?"

"Hai!" replied his mother in a chirpy voice. "I hired you a home tutor! Be sure to greet him nicely!"

There was a moment of silence after she said this before Tsuna let out a shriek of, "What?"

'__Did she just say a home tutor?' __thought Tsuna. __'The last time she said something like that-'__

Before he could even finish that thought, Tsuna's instincts began screaming at him to get out of the way _right now_.

Deciding to act first and ask questions later, the brunet dove to the side, just narrowly missing a kick that had been aimed at the back of his head courtesy of a small infant in a black suit and a fedora decorated with a thick orange stripe around its base.

When the infant landed on the table and turned to look back at Tsuna, he nodded approvingly, saying, "Looks like you're not completely pathetic."

Tsuna, though, didn't answer him, merely watching the baby with wide, staring eyes.

And then, he did something that proved just how far gone he was.

With shaking hands, Tsuna reached forward and pinched his tutor's chubby cheeks, pulling them in the way you did with adorable babies, but definitely _not _with the world's number one hitman.

And Reborn, losing his temper, pulled out of Tsuna's grip and attempted to knee the boy in the stomach.

Tsuna, working on instincts, was able to stop the baby just before he made contact with his stomach and kept a hold of him, hugging him to his chest.

In a voice that just barely escaped shaking, the brunet told his mother, "You don't have to bring the sweets up, kaa-san. Just…don't bother us, okay?"

And then, without another word, Tsuna turned to walk up the stairs.

Reborn, annoyed that a _teenage boy _had been able to capture him, was about to free himself from the boy's grasp, but stopped when he felt a drop of water hit his cheek.

Perplexed, he looked up into his new student's face, and was shocked at what he saw there.

The boy's expression was completely calm, betraying no emotion, but there were tears pouring out of his eyes; endless tears.

Why? Why was he crying? And why was his face so calm? So devoid of emotion?

A fourteen-year-old boy should not be able to do this.

Other than the tears, there was nothing to indicate that this boy was crying. There were no furrowed eyebrows, no eyes squeezed shut, no teeth bared, no sobs coming out of his mouth.

Absolutely nothing.

And before he even noticed it, they had arrived back at the boy's room, and he let go of Reborn, who immediately turned around to stare at him.

"How…?" he asked, deliberately leaving the question hanging, and the boy, Tsunayoshi, showed an almost nostalgic smile.

"A mafia boss should never show weakness in front of others," he recited, and Reborn's eyes suddenly narrowed dangerously.

With lightning speed, the hitman whipped Leon off his hat, the chameleon immediately transforming into a gun, and pointed him towards the brunet in front of him.

Tsunayoshi didn't even flinch at this, merely continuing to smile.

"But that doesn't apply to you, does it? I mean, you've seen my weakness before. You're the one that trained it out of me, for the most part. You're Reborn. I know you're Reborn, you have to be."

Now he was rambling, but Reborn didn't stop him, listening intently and wondering just how the boy knew it was him.

"You look just like him. You have the fedora, the way too curly sideburns, Leon…you even have the sun arcobaleno's pacifier."

The last statement caught Reborn completely off-guard, startling him, and he was about to attack Tsuna when the boy collapsed to the floor, crying.

Only this time, he was really crying, not just shedding tears. The mask of calm had been replaced by the expression of a child that had seen way more than he should have; someone that had lost almost everything he held dear to him, and had only just found out that they weren't really lost at all.

But even in this vulnerable state, the boy was careful, controlled. He was sitting on his bottom with both legs stretched in front of him, his hands also in front of him with his palms up to show that he wasn't hiding anything. His head was tilted back a little, leaving his neck bare and vulnerable, to show submission, which could also be seen in how the inside of his wrists were left exposed. The boy was silently showing himself to be completely harmless, and Reborn relaxed a little.

"Who are you?" asked Reborn in a quiet voice as he lowered Leon, staring at the boy intently.

Tsuna's shoulder's ceased shaking and he opened his puffy red eyes to look earnestly at Reborn. "I don't think you'd believe me, even if I told you," he replied just as quietly, in a voice just barely above a whisper.

"Try me."

"I'm the Vongola Decimo."

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><p>SkyGem: Well, that was quite the emotional chapter. Tsuna finally had his breakdown…anyways, please do leave a review, ne? And I'll be updating "Forgive but Never Forget" in a few hours. Oh, and who else is excited about the new image manager? I can't wait 'til we can start uploading covers for our stories! Anyways, that's all for now! Ciao!<p> 


	5. All Your Fault

"I'm the Vongola Decimo."

Reborn stood silently, watching the boy in front of him, not knowing what to say. "The Vongola Decimo?" he asked, his mind already racing.

This boy shouldn't know that he was the heir yet. Heck, he shouldn't even know about the mafia. Was he just an imposter? Was this all just an elaborate plot?

"Explain."

The brunet just looked at him through desperate eyes for a second before saying, "You know about the accident I was in a while back? When I went into a coma for a week?"

Reborn nodded wordlessly.

"While I was in the coma, I dreamed. I dreamed about the next four years of my life. I dreamed about you telling me I was Vongola Decimo, about meeting all my guardians, about getting stuck in the future and having to stop Byakuran Gesso from taking over the world, about clearing up the misunderstanding between the Vongola and the Shimon, and so many, many more things…"

There was complete silence after he finished talking and frankly, Reborn had no idea how to respond.

Of course he was suspicious, immensely so, but he was also curious. Some of the things this boy said seemed completely ridiculous, but some of them were things that no one outside the Famiglia should know.

"And why should I believe you?" the sun arcobaleno finally asked.

"Because you're Reborn!" was the answer. "You're my tutor who, despite being a total jerk, always helps me out in the end! I wouldn't ever have gotten anywhere without you!"

Reborn pondered for only a moment longer before letting out a long sigh and saying, "I'm not saying I believe you, but seeing as I have nothing else to go by for now, I'll play along. ****But****, if you ever give me reason to believe that you're an imposter, or that what you've told me today is a lie, I ****will not ****hesitate to take you out."

Tsuna nodded frantically at this, his expression one of profound relief, a watery smile on his face.

"Now," said Reborn, "tell me who your guardians were."

Tsuna didn't hesitate and began listing off the names and positions, "Storm guardian and right-hand man: Gokudera Hayato. Rain guardian: Yamamoto Takeshi. Sun guardian: Sasagawa Ryohei. Cloud guardian: Hibari Kyoya. Lightning guardian: Bovino Lambo. Mist guardians: Rokudo Mukuro and Dokuro Chrome."

Reborn listened carefully; he was surprised to hear that this boy had somehow tamed the Smoking Bomb, and was annoyed that for reasons unknown, the stupid Bovino was a guardian. Hearing Rokudo's name had also been a surprise, but what really caught his attention was…

"Mist guardian****s****?" asked the arcobaleno.

Tsuna just nodded in reply, saying, "After I met Mukuro-kun, he was taken back to the Vendicare, and Chrome-chan acted as his…vessel, I guess you could say. Even after he was released, they both shared the role of mist guardian."

"I see…" said Reborn, and after that, the two talked long into the night, Reborn asking questions, and Tsuna answering them to the best of his abilities.

In the end, Tsuna ended up drifting off at around one in the morning and Reborn, seeing how tired the boy was and also wanting to go over everything he'd learned in the past few hours, decided to let him sleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Reborn was just standing over his new student, getting his defibrillators ready when, to his disappointment, the little tuna fish shot up in bed, shrieking, "I'm up, I'm up! Please don't shoot me, Reborn!"<p>

There was quiet for a moment after that as Tsuna took in the sight of his tutor standing over him, the defibrillator in his tiny hands, his expression downcast, before letting out an ear-piercing "HIIIEEEE!" and falling sideways off the bed.

Upon making contact with the floor, Tsuna immediately scrambled to his feet and ran into his bathroom to take a quick shower before heading to breakfast, leaving behind a sulking Reborn, who reluctantly put his torture device away.

"Stupid Dame-Tsuna," the infant muttered to himself, "Ruining my fun already…"

Not twenty minutes later, Tsuna was downstairs in his uniform, grabbing a piece of toast from the kitchen before running out the front door, shouting, "Ittekimasu!"

As Tsuna walked towards school at a leisurely pace, secure in the knowledge that, rather than being late, he was actually pretty early for school, Reborn sat nonchalantly on his shoulder, observing the boy. There was something about this pathetic brunet that was starting to seem more and more familiar to Reborn, but he just couldn't place why.

It was also pretty eerie, the way Tsunayoshi acted so familiar with him; Reborn knew that it was because Tsunayoshi already knew him, from the dreams he'd had, but still…

And suddenly, Reborn was snapped out of his musings as a terrifying killing intent reached him.

Tsuna seemed to have noticed it as well, because he stopped dead in his tracks before doing a one eighty and kicking away the dynamite that had been heading straight for them.

Tsuna felt a pool of dread gather in the pit of his stomach as he watched the dynamite explode harmlessly in the air, his eyes then traveling to the person who had thrown the projectile; none other than the one and only Gokudera Hayato.

On the boy's face was the most furious expression Tsuna had ever seen and what terrified him was that it was actually directed at him!

"You…" growled out the silveret. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

And with that, Hayato lunged at the brunet, who was even now staring at him with those beautiful brown eyes of his. This only served to infuriate Hayato even more as he kicked and punched at the boy, trying to take out all his anger and frustration and loneliness.

All his attacks, though, were completely blocked and there was maybe one small, small part of Hayato that was relieved at that.

"W-why?" asked Tsuna, "Why are you attacking me? W-we haven't even m-met before…"

He left the 'in this world' part unsaid, believing that Gokudera, like the rest of the guardians, didn't remember any of their time together.

"Because it's your fault!" shouted the silveret again. "It's your fault that I'm feeling like this! It's because of those stupid dreams that I feel so lonely! Why? Why did you do that to me?"

When Hayato said the word 'dreams' Tsuna's eyes widened, and his attention was averted for just long enough for his storm to land a punch on his jaw, knocking him to the floor.

Standing over the prone form of his once boss, Hayato let the tears fall from his eyes.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you have to hurt me like that? I was perfectly fine being all by myself before! But then you went and showed me ****that****, and now, now…"

"And now you miss being a part of a famiglia," supplied Reborn from the sidelines, where he'd been watching the ongoing scene with curious eyes.

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Sorry, that was kinda rushed, wasn't it? Lol, anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter, ne? Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Oh, and I'll be updating FbNF in a few hours, so look forward to that! Ciao!<p> 


	6. A Burn, A Matress, And A Cow

"And now you miss being a part of a famiglia."

Hayato didn't say anything to deny or agree with Reborn's claim, but instead continued to stare at the brunet.

Tsuna, meanwhile, was watching the his friend's hand uneasily, where the still lit igniter was getting dangerously close to his clothes, under which who knows how many bombs and other assorted explosives were hidden.

Hayato followed his gaze, and when he saw what the brunet was staring at, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Those wide brown eyes of Tsuna's, like an open book, were as easy to read as ever, easily showing his apprehension, and Hayato wanted so badly to believe that it wasn't just an act.

In the end, the urge to cry won out over the urge to laugh and the tears started falling quicker down his face. As a result, Hayato's grip on the igniter he held in one hand and the dynamites he held in his other hand unconsciously loosened, and they all tumbled to the ground.

His eyes widening, Tsuna quickly jumped forward and pulled the igniter away, but not before the sticks of dynamite caught fire.

Without thinking, the boy slapped his hands onto them, ignoring the smarting of the flames against his skin before they died out.

"G-geez," said Tsuna in an exasperated voice as he sat back, looking down at his hands, which were already turning an angry red, "Why does my first meeting with you always have to end in my saving our lives?"

A horrified expression on his face, Hayato dropped to his knees, his eyes wide with horror and his mouth hanging open in shock as he stared at Tsuna's burnt hands.

Tsuna, worried that the boy would start bowing to him and apologizing like he used to at this age, started saying, "Hayato, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about-"

But the boy was cut off when Hayato's hand enclosed gently around his wrist, making sure not to agitate his burns, and the older boy pulled him gently to his feet.

Before Tsuna could even ask what he was doing, Hayato took out his cell phone to check what time it was before pulling him off in a seemingly random direction.

"H-Hayato! Where are we going?" shouted Tsuna as they ran, using the other boy's given name without thinking, but Hayato didn't seem to hear him. The older male had seemingly gone into overprotective right-hand mode.

After maybe two or three minutes of running, they finally came to a stop in a seemingly random part of town, right in the middle of the sidewalk.

Tsuna was about to ask why they were here, but when he turned to look at Hayato, he saw that his friend was staring into the distance, his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently, as if he was waiting for someone who was late for an appointment.

Tsuna tried to think who they might be waiting for, and immediately, an image of a certain EXTREMELY loud boxer popped into his brain.

Tsuna let out a startled squeak as he realized what his storm guardian was trying to do, and was about to reassure him that he really didn't need Ryohei to heal him, but was cut off before he even began when a dust cloud appeared in the distance.

* * *

><p>Ryohei was taking his usual morning jog around Namimori when he saw them both standing in the middle of the sidewalk, as if they had been waiting for someone, and his heart skipped a beat. There were Tsuna and Hayato, looking exactly as he remembered them.<p>

The octopus head was standing with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face, and tapping his foot impatiently.

When Ryohei saw his little brother figure standing beside the octopus head, watching him approach with an apologetic expression on his face, the boxer realized that the one they were waiting for was __him__!

By the time the boxer realized this, he was only a few feet away from the two, and came to an abrupt halt about a foot away from them.

The octopus head didn't look in the least bit ruffled by their close call, merely taking both of Tsuna's hands and holding them out so that Ryohei could see the shiny red blisters that had formed all over them.

"Heal them, turf top," he ordered curtly, leaving Ryohei speechless for once.

Did octopus head just say what he thought he just said?

Ryohei turned to look at Tsuna, who was trying to hide the pain he was in, and received an apologetic smile as the boy said, "Sorry for troubling you, onii-san…"

After one more moment of speechlessness, Ryohei suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "EXTREME!"

And with that, he took both of Tsuna's hands in his, a little apprehensive as he called on his sun flames.

When his hands began to glow a soft, familiar yellow, Ryohei felt relief bubble up inside him, and not even two minutes later, Tsuna's hands were completely healed.

Tsuna's smile relaxed a little and became more genuine now that he wasn't trying to hide his pain, and the moment he saw that his boss was okay, Hayato dropped to his knees, his forehead knocking against the ground multiple times as he performed a perfect dogeza in front of his boss.

"I apologize a million times over for the great disrespect of injuring you and doubting your sincerity, Juudaime!"

"Hayato! Please get off the floor!" exclaimed Tsuna, pulling his friend's arm as he tried to get him to get back on his feet. "It's not your fault you misunderstood my intentions! Anyways, now's not the time to revert to the way you were before! I prefer the calmer Hayato instead of the one that's always injuring himself to prove his loyalty!"

And in the blink of an eye, Hayato was standing on his feet again, his expression sheepish. "Sorry, Juudaime…"

Tsuna smiled at him and then, as if remembering that Ryohei was still here, he turned quickly around and bowed in apology, saying, "I'm sorry for interrupting your morning jog, onii-san!"

Ryohei, suddenly going into doting older brother mode, just ruffled his hair, saying, "It's fine, Tsuna. If you get hurt again, let me know right away."

Tsuna's expression became shocked for a moment before he smiled widely at him.

The next second, though, his expression morphed into one of pure horror and he let out a shriek, shouting, "We're going to be late for school!"

And as the three of them tore off towards the school, Ryohei let out a great, booming laugh; he was completely happy for the first time since his accident.

Tsuna threw looked at him, weirded out a bit, but Ryohei just ignored it, revelling in the complete chaos of the moment; it was one he hadn't thought he'd feel for a long time yet, if ever.

In the shadows, a certain infant watched the three teens run off to school, a small smile on his face, and an odd sense of nostalgia in his heart, the source of which he just couldn't seem to remember.

There was something tugging at his mind, something that felt like half-buried memories, trying to make their way out.

* * *

><p>On the way to Nami-chuu, Tsuna started to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.<p>

Hayato, who was running alongside his boss on the right, immediately noticed his discomfort and asked, "Is there something wrong, Juudaime?"

Tsuna, still thinking, said in an absent voice, "I think my hyper intuition is try to tell me something but…"

As he trailed off, Hayato exchanged a look with Ryohei, both of them immediately on their guard.

"Is it an enemy, Juudaime?"

Tsuna immediately shook his head, saying, "That's not it…but it feels like…something bad, something terrible, is going to happen…"

The two guardians were now confused, trying to think back to what might have happened on this day last time around.

As far as Hayato remembered, everything had actually been really quiet in those first few months until Mukuro had begun attacking students from their school.

Ryohei, on the other hand, suddenly remembered a rumour that had been going around the school; the rumour that had first sparked his interest in Tsuna.

"Tsuna!" he called, catching the brunet's attention before saying one word, "Takeshi!"

The blood immediately drained from the younger male's face, and he suddenly put on an extra burst of speed.

Hayato, also realizing what Ryohei had meant, followed after his boss, muttering things like, "Stupid baseball idiot," under his breath, and Ryohei brought up the rear of the group.

Even with their worry induced sprinting, the three arrived at school just as the bell rang and were stopped in their mad scramble for the roof by a certain bloodthirsty prefect.

"Arriving at school after the bell is a violation of school rules. Prepare to be bitten to death, herbivores," said Hibari emotionlessly, trying not to read too much into the fact that these three herbivores had arrived at school together.

Tsuna, though, instead of shrieking like a little girl, shouted in relief, "Kyoya! Thank God it's you! I'm going to the roof to stop Takeshi from jumping! You, nii-san, and Hayato stay here on the ground in case I'm too late!"

And with that, the boy ran off into the building, leaving a dumbfounded Hibari Kyoya in his wake.

Once he had entered the building and was no longer visible, Kyoya turned his glare on Hayato, who was easily able to see the confusion behind his usual default expression.

Hayato just replied in his usual, vague way, saying, "Come on, stupid skylark. You heard what Juudaime said!"

No one other than Tsuna's guardians would have been able to decipher the explanation that was hidden in those two short sentences, but Hibari heard it loud and clear.

"Hn," said the prefect, heading towards the school building.

Hayato and Ryohei followed slowly after him, not questioning him when he entered the school building.

Not even two minutes later, a window on the second floor was thrown open, and a mattress flew out, nearly flattening Hayato and Ryohei before the two could get out of its way.

* * *

><p>Far away from all the turmoil in Namimori, in a mansion in Italy, a little cow boy was sitting in his bed, sulking.<p>

He absolutely hated being in this place.

He may not have noticed it when he'd lived it the first time around, but now, it was glaringly obvious to him that no one in this household really wanted him around, not even his own father.

But then, it wasn't like he really wanted to be here either.

He wanted to be back in Japan, with his real family.

With his rival, Reborn.

With his big brothers, Tsuna, Hayato, Takeshi, Ryohei, Kyoya, and Mukuro.

With his older sisters, Bianchi and Chrome.

With his playmates, Fuuta and I-Pin.

And, of course, with his mother, Nana.

So when his father came around to his room to give him his "mission" to take out Reborn (probably hoping he would get himself killed in the process seeing as it was literally impossible for a normal five-year-old), who was currently in Japan, training his newest student, the boy's expression brightened, his wide smile rivaling the sun.

He'd thought that it had all been a dream; that his Tsuna-nii didn't even exist.

But Reborn being in Japan was proof that it hadn't all been just a dream.

Maybe he'd dreamed of the future.

Or maybe it had something to do with the ten-year-bazooka.

He really didn't care how it had happened at the moment.

Within an hour, the five-year-old had packed everything he would need, and without looking back once at his childhood home, he hopped into the awaiting limo and headed to Japan.

"Gyahaha!" he laughed to himself, "Lambo-sama can't wait to get to Japan and see mama and Tsuna-nii again!"

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Hehe, hope you guys liked this chapter! I'm sorry for not updating this past week or so, but I've been kinda busy! Oh, but I did make this chapter longer than usual! Two thousand words! Hehe! I'm going to try and start making my chapters longer, just for you guys! Anyways, please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne? Ciao!<p> 


	7. Six Years

Takeshi sat on the roof, leaning back against the fence and looking up at the clear blue sky, cradling his broken arm.

'__How did I get back up here again?' __he wondered, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

He'd been sitting like this for at least ten minutes, not able to work up the nerve to climb over to the other side of the fence again. The memory of the first time he'd done that was still fresh in his mind, and it scared him, even if it had been only in a dream.

The fear he felt as he was free-falling through the air, the ground rushing up at him at a frightening speed…and the sense of security and the newfound appreciation for life when Tsuna had saved him.

…And maybe that was what scared him the most, that this time, he knew that there would be no Tsuna to talk him out of this stupid decision, no Tsuna to jump after him when he lost his footing and slipped off the ledge.

But even if he was too scared to jump, it didn't mean he wanted to continue on like this, waiting for his relationship with Tsuna to go back to the way it had been when he knew full well that it probably wasn't going to happen.

…Maybe there was a less scary way of killing himself…

And just as he had gotten to his feet, the door to the roof was thrown open, and to Takeshi's great surprise, there was Tsuna, his expression frantic as he took in Takeshi, one hand on the railing of the barrier behind him.

"Takeshi!" he shouted, his eyes wide as his gaze moved to Takeshi's broken arm. "W-what happened?"

"Can't you see?" asked Takeshi, not even registering the use of his given name as a rueful smile stretched across his face, "The baseball god threw me away."

His expression absolutely incredulous, Tsuna asked, "Is that __really __all it takes for you to readily throw your life away?"

"You don't understand!" shouted Takeshi, his voice desperate. "Baseball was __all I had____left__! I tried being strong! I tried to continue even when I'd lost almost everything I held important to me, but I just can't do it anymore! It hurts too much, Tsuna!"

"But that doesn't mean you can kill yourself!" argued Tsuna, "Do you have any idea how __devastated __your father would be? And what about all your friends? Do you think any of them would be happy if you killed yourself?"

Takeshi flinched a little when his dad was mentioned, but stuttered out, "M-my dad will get over it…and it's not like I have any friends other than you. All those people that hang around me in class, they don't really care about me, they care about the star of the baseball team. And, I'm sorry, Tsuna, but hanging out with you…it's just not the same! I don't want to act like strangers! It's just too cruel! I want my best friend back! I want back the person that I used to, and still do, love like a brother!"

Tsuna's eyes widened when he heard this; of course he'd realized, even before he'd arrived here, that Takeshi had the memories – he refused to call them dreams anymore – but to hear him confirm it himself…it was still somewhat of a shock.

Swallowing once, the brunet composed his expression, and slowly took a few steps forward, not wanting to startle his friend and make him fall; the fence was rusty and definitely liable to break under Takeshi's weight.

"Takeshi…" said Tsuna, taking the time to choose his words carefully, "…did you know that things that you've __lost __have a strange way of finding their way back to you? It may not always be in the same way, shape, or form, but they will definitely always come back…but things that you've __thrown away __never come back, no matter how much or how hard you wish for it.*"

Takeshi remained quiet, his brows furrowed as he tried to understand what Tsuna was talking about, and Tsuna's mouth stretched into a genuine smile.

"Just look behind you," said the brunet quietly, and Takeshi became even more concerned.

Turning slowly around, the taller brunet looked down at the ground, and his jaw promptly fell open from the shock.

Why was he so surprised, you ask?

Because there, standing on the ground in front of the school, were Ryohei, Kyoya, and ****Hayato****! And they were surrounding…

"Is that the mattress Kyoya takes naps on when it's raining outside and he can't sleep on the roof?"

"Eh? No way!" exclaimed Tsuna, walking forward to look over the fence and at the ground where, sure enough, there was the mattress, laying innocently on the ground, looking all fluffy and comfortable, even from three stories up. "Ahaha! It's really there! For Kyoya to actually bring out the mattress…he must be really worried about you!"

Takeshi stopped staring at the mattress and the people around it, who were talking to each other as they obviously hadn't noticed the two staring at them, to turn his attention to Tsuna.

"You…" he started off, not knowing how to say it, "…you __know__?"

Tsuna just smiled back at him and turned one eighty to lean his back against the fence, looking up at the sky.

"I told you, didn't I? Lost things have a way of finding their way back to you."

Takeshi's eyes widened when he heard this, fierce joy bubbling up inside him.

"Tsuna!" he shouted, throwing himself at the brunet who, unfortunately enough, was still leaning on the rusty fence.

The combined weight of the two teens caused the badly rusted fence to break, sending the two tumbling through the air.

Unlike the first time, though, there was none of the terrifying fear of smashing their skulls open the moment they made contact with the ground.

"You know…this is actually quite fun!" laughed Takeshi, shouting to be heard of the wind as the two were falling. "Is this how it feels like whenever you fly?"

"A bit," Tsuna managed to get out before all the air was knocked out of his lungs as the two made contact with the super fluffy mattress, which didn't feel quite as fluffy as it looked after having made contact with it at the speed they'd been going.

Letting out a groan, Tsuna rolled over onto his stomach, already anticipating the bruises that would soon be forming on his back.

Takeshi, meanwhile, just laughed, as if he hadn't felt the pain, and said, "Thank goodness Kyoya was here to watch our backs, ne?"

"Shut up, baseball idiot! Because of your idiocy, Juudaime just fell off the school building ****again****! Imagine all the bruises he'll have because of you in a few hours!"

A flicker of guilt crossed Takeshi's features for just a second before he laughed and waved it off, saying, "It can't be much worse than the injuries that __you __probably caused him at your second first meeting."

Hayato flinched at this, and Takeshi laughed even louder, his suspicions confirmed.

Tsuna just smiled down at the two, his heart swelling with all the emotions he was feeling, so happy was he that he had his Family back.

The happy atmosphere was promptly interrupted though, when Kyoya suddenly growled out, "You herbivores have one minute to get to class before I bite you to death."

His eyes widening, Tsuna quickly ushered his two classmates to their feet before hurrying them towards the school building, smiling back at Kyoya as he did so and saying, "Thanks for saving us, Kyoya…and for letting us off the hook this time."

And without waiting for a reply, Tsuna turned and followed his friends, not seeing the ghost of a smile that twitched at Kyoya's lips as he watched his herbivorous boss leave.

Looks like he wasn't quite so alone as he'd thought at first.

* * *

><p>The school day was almost over when Lambo arrived at the Sawada household, his grin stretching from ear to ear as he stared up at the house that would be his home for the next few years.<p>

The cow boy was pretty sure that his nii-san wasn't at home at the moment, but that was alright; he could 'meet' his mama during that time, and maybe get a taste of her delicious home cooking while he was at it.

Walking confidently up to the door, the five-year-old stretched up as high as he could on his tippy toes, and rang the doorbell, waiting impatiently for Nana to open it.

And when she finally did, she looked almost exactly as Lambo remembered her except, of course, she was four years younger.

The woman's eyes immediately landed on Lambo, and she cooed at him, leaning down and patting his head of curly hair (he'd decided to forgo the afro, not feeling quite as fond of it as he had when he'd been younger.)

"Oh, you're so adorable! What's wrong little boy? Are you lost?"

Lambo just shook his head, looking shyly down at his feet as he fidgeted almost nervously. "L-Lambo-sama is here to see Tsuna-nii…is he here right now?"

Lambo knew that his nii-san wasn't home at the moment, but it was important to play his part as the clueless five-year-old for now.

"Ara? You're a friend of Tsu-kun's? Well, he's not here right now, but he should be back any minute now. Why don't you come and wait for him inside?"

Nodding enthusiastically, Lambo followed her inside without hesitation, and as he waited for Tsuna to come home, he talked to Nana, coming up with a story on the spot when she asked him where his parents were.

Apparently, he was now an orphan that Tsuna-nii had helped a bit ago and wanted to repay the favour.

When Nana heard the heartbreaking (and completely untrue) story, she didn't hesitate to invite Lambo to come live with her and her no-good son, which was led to the scene Tsuna and his other guardians came home to.

* * *

><p>To say that Tsuna was surprised when he came home to see a five-year-old Lambo cuddling with his mother in the kitchen would be an understatement.<p>

"T-tadaima," he stuttered, and the two immediately turned to face him.

The "Ojamashimasu" coming from his guardians went completely unheard as Lambo screamed, "TSUNA-NII!" and launched himself at the boy, nearly knocking him off his feet with the impact.

"L-Lambo," stuttered out Tsuna, trying to get air into his lungs even as Lambo wrapped his arms around his neck in a chokehold, apparently trying to cut off all his airways. "W-when did you get here?"

"Today," sang the young boy, hugging Tsuna even closer, as if trying to sink into the boy, content to disappear within him.

And after a very confusing few minutes during which Nana told her son how proud she was that he'd helped an orphan, Tsuna tried to go with the flow without really knowing what was going on, and Lambo quickly whispered an explanation into his ear, the group of five made their way up to Tsuna's room, where they saw Reborn and Kyoya waiting for them.

Kyoya frowned in distaste when they all crowded into the relatively small room, but didn't say anything, knowing that this meeting was an important one.

Once they were all seated, there was silence for quite a while.

And in the end, the silence was broken by Reborn stating, "So there's only the mists left."

"__Only?__" asked an incredulous voice, and everyone jumped.

Reborn was immediately alert, pulling Leon off his fedora, the chameleon readily turning into a gun in his hand.

The others in the room, however, were calm, though a bit peeved.

"What the hell are you doing here, Byakuran?" demanded Hayato of the albino who had just appeared, lounging comfortably on Tsuna's bed, munching on a bag of super fluffy marshmallows.

"Why, I'm here to see what the hell is taking you guys in taking so long to get in contact with me," he replied in a singsong voice.

"Hn. And why on Earth would we want to get in contact with the king of marshmallows?" demanded Kyoya in an irritated voice; he hated Byakuran at the best of times, and even if he had calmed down a bit in the past four years, he was still quite likely to attack Byakuran if the man was here without a proper reason.

This reply made the other male's eyes widen marginally, and he slowly sat up, asking, "…You're joking…right?"

"Haha, Kyoya doesn't joke," laughed Takeshi, "And anyways, I was wondering the same thing. Why __are __you here, Byakuran-kun?"

"You're not joking?" asked Byakuran, looking around at all the faces in the room, all of them looking back at him with varying degrees of confusion and (more on Reborn's part) suspicion.

His expression suddenly becoming strangely serious, the older male ran a hand through his hair.

"Was there something wrong with the memory transfer?" the albino asked himself quietly as everyone listened in curiously. "It's true that nothing like this has ever happened before, so there were bound to be mistakes, and there were eight people, after all, whose memories I had to protect…but I wonder why my memories are still intact?"

Tsuna interrupted the man's ramblings by asking, "Byakuran-san…what are you talking about?"

Looking back over at the brunet, Byakuran smiled uneasily before asking, "Tuna fish-chan…how much do you actually remember…?"

The young Decimo just stared curiously over at the older male for a few moments before answering, "Four years."

He looked over at his friends to see if this was true with them, and they all nodded in agreement.

A sigh left Byakuran's lips when he heard this, and he ran a hand through his hair.

"Four years…" the man murmured to himself. "They've only got four years worth of memories…no wonder they hadn't replied to me yet.

"Byakuran-kun?" asked Tsuna, his voice worried, but curious at the same time. "What's wrong?"

Turning his eyes back to Tsuna, Byakuran let out another sigh before locking gazes with the boy again and saying to him, "You want to know what's wrong?

"What's wrong, my dear tuna sushi, is that you and your guardians are missing six years worth of memories."

* * *

><p>*This little bit about lost things was not originally my idea~ I remembered reading it in Rurouni Kenshin and thinking it fit absolutely perfectly in this situation. If y'all haven't read the manga yet, I suggest you do. It's amazing (and complete).<p>

SkyGem: Yay, I'm so happy! It's another long chapter! I hope you guys liked it, ne? And what do you think of the cliffie? Please do leave a review, and let me know what you guys thought. Ciao!


	8. Reset

SkyGem: Whoo! Victim number two of my dead fanfic necromancy! Is anyone even still waiting for this to be updated? If there is, I hope you're all happy! The hiatus on this fic wasn't quite as long as the one for StR, but it _was _still two and a half years, and I'm super sorry for leaving you all on such a cruel cliffhanger! Please accept my apologies!

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, my dear tuna sushi, is that you and your guardians are missing six years worth of memories."<p>

Silence.

Byakuran looked around, taking in the children's shell-shocked expressions – he cold see them trying to absorb this new truth bomb, and with very little success.

Tsuna, in particular, seemed to be having a hard time.

"Six years?" asked the thirteen-year-old, looking up at Byakuran through confused eyes. "What do you mean we're missing six years of memories? Why do we even have these memories in the first place?"

Byakuran heaved a great sigh and looked down, running a hand through his hair. He was so not ready for this.

He wasn't supposed to have to explain these things to the children sitting in front of him.

Now, how could he put this delicately?

As he thought, Tsuna watched him carefully, starting to grow more and more worried. Byakuran wasn't the type to ever be uncertain about anything.

Something horrible must have happened in the six years he and his guardians were missing.

Finally, Byakuran seemed to decide on a course of action, and looked up, locking gazes with Tsuna.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he said, his voice somber, "Ten years from now...you are dead."

This time, there was no silence.

Hayato and Ryohei jumped from their seats to stand in front of Tsuna, growling low in their throats.

Takeshi edged closer to his sky, ready to protect him if need be, and Lambo clutched his brother closer, as if that would somehow keep him safe.

Even Kyoya's hands twitched towards his weapons, his eyes narrowing to slits.

Throwing his hands into the air in exasperation, Byakuran declared indignantly, "It wasn't me this time! If I wanted to kill him, I wouldn't be sitting here having a tea party with you all!"

The guardians relaxed marginally at this, but Kyoya did growl dangerously at the "tea party" part.

Swallowing the dread that had welled up within him, Tsuna leaned forward and grabbed on to the backs of Hayato's and Ryohei's shirts, pulling them backwards to get them to sit back down.

"How did I d-die?" asked Tsuna, clenching and unclenching his hands, a nervous gesture he had picked up when he was sixteen, which seemed to have carried over to his thirteen-year-old body.

Byakuran looked away.

"That's something you will have to see for yourselves," he said.

Tsuna bit his lip.

The way Byakuran was acting was really starting to worry him.

Whatever it was that had happened ten years from now, it must have been big.

"_How_ do we have our memories of the future?" asked Hayato from where he was sitting beside Tsuna, his brows furrowed. This entire time, he had been trying to think through the logistics of it, but he couldn't seem to come up with a solution that made sense.

"Did you transfer the memories of the future to us? Because that won't make much of a difference. The moment we woke up from our comas with all our memories, a new parallel world was created. Nothing is going to change in the future where Juudaime died even if we know what happened."

Byakuran shook his head in the negative.

"It wasn't a memory transfer," he denied. "It was..."

He thought for a moment, trying to come up with a simple way of explaining what they had done.

Then, his face lit up with a huge smile as an idea came to him.

"Imagine you have a computer," he said, and his audience's expressions became confused.

"What does a computer have to do with this?" demanded Ryohei.

"SHH!" said Byakuran, throwing a glare at him. "I was about to get there. Now imagine your computer. You were being careless with it, and it got a virus. So now you need a way to fix it."

Tsuna and the others perked up now, suddenly realizing where Byakuran was going with this.

"Now, someone suggests that you just get a new computer, and transfer all your data. But even though that will save all your files, it's not going to fix your old computer."

Here, Byakuran turned to look pointedly at Hayato, who nodded.

"So instead, you decide to do a factory reset."

Hayato's eyes widened, and his expression became calculating. The pieces were starting to come together.

"That would remove the _virus_, but it would also remove all your _files_."

Lambo tugged at Tsuna's sleeve.

"Tsuna," he whispered just a tad bit too loud. "What is are the 'virus' and the 'files' supposed to be?" he asked. This explanation was really so confusing. The marshmallow man should have found a better way to explain it.

"The 'virus' is whatever killed me," Tsuna replied. "And the 'files' are our memories."

Lambo made a noise of understanding as everything clicked into place. Well why didn't the marshmallow man just say that?

"So the person from before now suggests that you copy all your files to a USB and transfer them to the computer once it has been reset," continued Byakuran. "But the problem with that is that you don't know what files have the virus. So you decide to only copy the most important files – ones that you are sure are clean of the virus."

As he said this last sentence, he looked around at each of the guardians in turn. They were the "files" that had been chosen to be saved.

"Do you understand?" asked Byakuran finally, and there were absent murmurs of agreement as the guardians continued to contemplate the analogy they'd been given.

"What about the other 'files'?" asked Reborn from where he was sitting, speaking up for the first time. "Is there any way to...restore them?"

Byakuran glanced thoughtfully at the infant.

"There is," he said, noticing the small sign (of relief) Reborn let out then. Then, breaking away from the analogy, he explained, "Every human has traces of each of the flames inside them, with one being the dominant one. For most people, there is a huge difference between their dominant flame and their secondary ones, which are so faint as to be nearly non-existent. But there are some cases, like our dear storm here, where the secondary flames are strong enough to manifest."

Hayato, having heard of this theory before, suddenly realized where Byakuran was going.

"So by stimulating all seven of a person's flames, you we can restore their memories," he said, and Byakuran nodded his approval.

"Exactly. Which is why we had wanted _all_ of you to retain your memories, so that we could keep our cards close to our chest. Ideally, tuna fish, his guardians, and I would _know_ everything, and we could decide together who to bring into the fold. But now that none of you have all of your memories, we will need one other rain, storm, cloud, and lightning in order get you all caught up."

Takeshi's brows knit together.

"We can't...uh..._stimulate_ our own flames by ourselves?" he asked.

Byakuran shook his head in reply.

"You remember when you first got your memories of the future? You were all out for, what, a week? Your brain needs that time to sift through all the new information, and to restore balance. You'll be knocked out completely. Having our flames active when that happens would be extremely dangerous."

Takeshi's eyes widened, and he gulped nervously.

Lambo raised his hand, as if asking for permission to talk, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Why does Byakuran have all his memories?" he asked, confused, and the white-haired male shrugged.

"It was probably a self-defense mechanism," said Hayato, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the ceiling as he thought it through. "His subconscious must have decided that he would have a better chance at survival if he remembered everything, so when it looked like he wouldn't be able to protect all of our memories, it decided focused most of its attention on himself."

"So if it hadn't done that...?" asked Ryohei, curious.

Hayato shrugged.

"I'm guessing we'd all have six or seven years of memories, instead of four," he said, looking over at Byakuran with a question in his eyes.

Byakuran shook his head.

"Wouldn't have made any difference."

Hayato nodded, then turned to face his boss, who seemed to still be trying to absorb everything.

"Juudaime?" asked Hayato, and Tsuna's eyes snapped to him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What do we do next?"

Tsuna looked down, thinking for a moment.

Then, when he looked back up, there was conviction in his eyes.

"First, we're going to find Chrome, and we're going to get Mukuro out of the Vendicare."

* * *

><p>SkyGem: Well then. It was...surprisingly easy to get back into this world. Here's some explanation and a bit more context on what's going on. I hope you all enjoyed, and please do leave a review letting me know what you thought! Ciao!<p> 


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